Top 3 Benefits to Keeping your CRM Data in the UK

27 Aug 2019

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever visited our website that we are proud to be a UK CRM provider. OpenCRM as a company and a product was born and bred in Yorkshire. Equally, it is important to us that all our data is stored in the UK…backups too.

Our decision to go for UK data centres started innocently enough. We wanted to find a secure provider that we liked and trusted and didn’t break the bank. (We are from Yorkshire after all.) And we found one that happened to be in the UK.

Doing this opened up a number of benefits that we hadn’t expected. And then GDPR happened. Suddenly having storing CRM data in the UK was at the top of everyone’s wishlist.

So what were these benefits?

The benefits we got from both our original CRM data centres and our new UK based, updated infrastructure weren’t just related to their location. The security and reliability we were able to provide our CRM users were at the heart of the search and configuration of the infrastructure.

As I said above, however, there were three key benefits that were a direct result of the fact that these data centres were and are based in the UK.

Keeping up with Legal Changes

Laws change and practices evolve with new technology. You can argue about whether or not they are able to stay current or up to date with these changes in the tech world, but the important point here is that they DO regularly change.

And that happens in every country…potentially at different rates and in different directions.

By keeping our infrastructure in the UK, all the data in our and our customers’ CRM systems fall under the same laws. Of course there are exceptions to that, but by and large, our responsibility to the data in question is regulated by the laws in place here in the UK.

This means that it is much easier to stay up to date with these evolutions in our legal (and ethical) responsibilities. It’s only one set of laws to keep an eye on, as it were.

We work hard to stay up to date with what is going on all over the world when it comes to data security. But as a UK based company, with UK based data centres backing up our CRM…it was and is so much easier to stay current.

What do our customers think?

When we speak to our prospective customers and tell them that we keep our and their CRM data in the UK, two things happen.

The first is that they suddenly have a clear understanding of what that means in geographic terms. I know it’s an obvious thing, but I think there is an emotional response to people knowing where in the world their data is held. I’ll come back to this in the final section.

Secondly, however, there is a little tick box that gets checked on their list of CRM requirements. Even if it wasn’t on there already.

This isn’t because the UK has the greatest data regulations in the world, there are lots of countries who are doing similar things to us and others who have taken additional or at least alternative steps in certain areas.

This is because they are reassured by the fact that they know (or could easily find out) what the regulations and laws are around that data centre.

Speaking the Same Language…at the Same Time

One of the other benefits we found to keeping our CRM data centres in the UK was that, when we did need to speak to someone, it was easy.

There wasn’t any timezone wrangling or questions about what someone meant when they said your proposal was “quite interesting.” (As an American living in the UK for well over a decade, I can freely admit to getting that one wrong…for years.)

But I digress.

My point here is that, when setting up both our old and new infrastructures, it was important that everything was done right the first time. Being able to chat in the same timezone without worrying about whether everyone is on the same page.

What do our customers think?

This particular benefit isn’t one that our customers will have direct awareness of, necessarily. BUT if we are making changes or updating our infrastructure, they will see the performance boosts and hear about the security improvements.

Improvements and boosts that are the result of these communication benefits.

Peace of Mind – Real or Imagined

The final benefit is one I touched on earlier.

When I mentioned that prospective customers have an emotional response to knowing (in general) where their CRM data is being held, this is was I was alluding to.

The physical and access security precautions we and our partners have around the actual data centres means that no one is getting in without the correct authorisation. So even if your office was just ‘round the corner from the data centre, there is no way that you can get access to it.

BUT, just knowing where it is, being able to point to your CRM data on a map is oddly reassuring. And I say that as both a user and member of the team that provides that service. Knowing our data is in the UK, “just down the road” as it were, gives me a peace of mind that I can’t quite define.

What do our customers think?

As I alluded to before, there is something reassuring in knowing that your data centre is in roughly the same place you are.

There’s nothing scientific to it, it’s just a general feeling and one that we’ve heard our clients mention again and again. They like knowing that their CRM data is in the UK. Backups too.